Page 76 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

Damn, his breath smelt like rotting things. And the hand with the gun was shaking even more. Was he a drug addict that had missed his fix? It felt like it.

That made him even more dangerous.

"You can go in there and get the brat. We know you can do that. And then we can take a little drive, and we will call that famous Ilya to pay a ransom."

I met his eyes. "Ilya won’t pay shit for me."

More laughter. "Maybe not, but he will for the boy."

The boy? They didn’t know about the baby, and I had to keep it that way.

"If he doesn’t pay for you, then I’m sure we will be allowed to have some fun with you." The gun slid up my top, tracing my skin until it was pressed into the side of my breast painfully. "Heard the only man you have ever been with is Ilya." He eyed me hungrily, and I snapped my lips together, trying to school my face into something unreadable. "If I ask nicely, I am sure we can have some fun with you before—well, before you outlive your usefulness."

If they were allowed? Something or someone else was in charge here. I schooled my face. "I won’t—" Turning my head, I glared at him. "You can do what you want to me. Rape me, torture me. I don’t care," I spat. "But I won’t take him from school and hand him over to you."

"Then his whole class will die." Jerking his chin to an upstairs window, he grinned with a shrug. "There’s a sniper across the road. How many of the little shits do you think he will hit before they realize what is going on?" His calm, steady voice wasterrifying. "But make no mistake, Alexander Popovitch will be the first to fall."

He was talking about mass murder. Of shooting up a school full of children like it was nothing at all.

The fight left my body; my shoulders slumped.

He chuckled again because he knew he had me. "I thought that might change your mind. And do not try to alert anyone, Daisy. Things will go badly for you if you do." Again his chin jerked to the driver, who was swinging his burly body out of the car. "You’ll have a guard. We wouldn’t want you getting brave now, would we?"

I met his eyes one last time before getting out. I wasn’t going to get brave because I was already brave, and one way or another, I would get Alec out of this situation.

It didn’t matter what happened to me. Only that he got back to his papa.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ilya

The flower in my hand dropped to my side, the delicate petals hitting my thigh and scattering over the floor.

"What do you mean she’s gone?" I asked. The nurses behind the desk looked at each other, their faces growing pale in the face of the anger coming off of me in waves. "Check again. Her name is Daisy. She came in from a house fire." And is pregnant with my child, I added silently. "She was in that room right there." I pointed behind them.

Both of them turned. "We know, sir, but she discharged herself this morning." One looked at her watch. "About three hours ago."

"Well, she didn’t even sign the right paperwork, but she was seen leaving. She looked like she was in a rush and had a bag with her," the other added.

The world tilted on its axis.

Daisy was gone. And I knew what that meant. She had run again because that’s what she did. She ran from me without even saying goodbye. This time she was running because she thought I was going to snatch her baby from her again.

She didn’t realize I knew the truth now.

Daisy always thought the worst of me.

"Thank you," I muttered, and turning on my heel, I stalked back to my car. By the time I reached it, my hands were shaking so much that the flowers fell and hit the pavement. Scattering red rose petals everywhere like giant drops of blood.

"Boss?" Seeing my face, my driver straightened. "What’s going on?"

"She’s gone," I said in a completely flat, emotionless voice.

Daisy was gone, and I didn’t know where.

"How can that be true?" A line appeared between his eyebrows.

I rounded on him, anger tightening the skin over the bones of my face. "It is true," I snapped. "She discharged herself earlier this morning. She left."